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The Lowell Sun

Updated:
04/02/2014 06:33:36 AM EDT

Congress sends Obama Ukraine-aid bill

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress is sending President Barack Obama a bill to provide $1 billion in loan guarantees to cash-poor Ukraine and take punitive measures against Russia for its annexation of part of the former Soviet republic. Russia's incursion into Crimea caused a deep rift between Moscow and Washington. The bill, passed with bipartisan support, was a way for Congress to denounce Russia's move and express support for Kiev. The House voted overwhelmingly to pass it Tuesday. The bill is also aimed at discouraging any further actions that President Vladimir Putin might be contemplating in the region. The bill provides $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine and supplements sanctions the Obama administration already has levied on Putin's inner circle and a Russian bank.

13 GM deaths are tied to a 57-cent part

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The fix for a faulty ignition switch linked to 13 traffic deaths would have cost just 57 cents, members of Congress said Tuesday as they demanded answers from General Motors' new CEO on why the automaker took 10 years to recall cars with the defect. At a hearing on Capitol Hill before a House subcommittee, GM's Mary Barra acknowledged under often testy questioning that the company took too long to act. She promised changes at GM that would prevent such a lapse from happening again.

"If there's a safety issue, we're going to make the right change and accept that," said Barra, who became CEO in January and almost immediately found herself thrust into one of the biggest product safety crises Detroit has ever seen.

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But as relatives of the crash victims looked on intently, she admitted that she didn't know why it took years for the dangerous defect to be announced. And she deflected many questions about what went wrong, saying an internal investigation is under way.

Since February, GM has recalled 2.6 million cars -- mostly Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions -- over the faulty switch, which can cause the engine to cut off in traffic, disabling the power steering, power brakes and air bags and making it difficult to control the vehicle. The automaker said new switches should be available starting April 7.

Service Service: Drunk agent an aberration

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secret Service Director Julia Pierson says the latest embarrassment involving a drunken agent on an overseas trip with the president was "an isolated incident." Pierson and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson met with senators from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday to discuss the incident involving an agent found drunk in a hotel in the Netherlands last month. Johnson spent about 15 minutes with the lawmakers while Pierson answered questions in the closed-door meeting for about an hour.

7.1 million: Obama basks in health sign-up

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mocking his critics, President Barack Obama boasted Tuesday that 7.1 million people have signed up for his health care law, an unexpected comeback after a disastrous rollout sent his poll numbers plummeting and stirred fears among Democrats facing re-election this fall. "The debate over repealing this law is over," he declared. It's "here to stay." But the late enrollment surge may do little to change the political dynamics heading into the midterm elections, particularly for Democrats running in conservative states where the health law and the president himself remain deeply unpopular. Even Obama's advisers acknowledge that the public's views on the law are unlikely to shift significantly between now and November. Still, with millions of people now receiving health benefits under the law, Democrats see an opportunity to undercut Republicans still pushing to repeal "Obamacare." And GOP lawmakers, wary of overplaying their political hand, are indeed grappling with whether to press forward with repeal or narrow their focus on replacing the law with different health measures.

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